Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Gotta See! Korean Film in Focus Series

As any movie lover can tell you, some really interesting fare has been coming out of Korea for the last decade. Oldboy got remade by Spike Lee, A Bittersweet Life's Jee-woon Kim was enlisted to helm Arnold's awesome comeback flick The Last Stand and star Byung-hun Lee has kept busy in G.I. Joe, Red 2, Terminator Genisys and is featured in the upcoming The Magnificent Seven remake. The films I've seen coming from Korea are well crafted with hints of melancholy, weirdness and humor with a very visual and technical panache. One of my favorite movies to come out of the region is Seung-wan Ryoo's high school reunion meets murder mystery mashed with martial arts mayhem good time The City of Violence. South Korea is also one of the fastest growing markets in global cinema with many a studio looking to break in the local market which is loyal to homegrown titles.

This week, The Korean Film Council his hosting two nights of double features showcasing some of Korea's most exciting artists turned recent Academy Members. Starting tonight in Beverly Hills you can catch Im Kwon-taek's drama Revivre (Cremation) and Han Jae-rim's award winning, mega hit period piece The Face Reader. Then on Friday it's Yoon Jong-bin's 80's and 90's mob film Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time and Bong Joon-ho's awesomely crazy post-apocalyptic thriller Snowpiercer which stars Chris Evans, Kang-ho Song and Ed Harris. All of the screenings are free with introductions and Q&A's being teased. Pick up tickets on Eventbrite. I'll see you at Snowpiercer because babies taste best!